SMU offers Florida transfer DL Chris McClellan
Florida defensive tackle Chris McClellan entered the NCAA transfer portal on Thursday, On3 learned. SMU quickly turned around and offered the 6-3, 290-pounder.
McClellan was a true sophomore for Florida in 2023 who picked up right where he left off as a freshman as a member of the Gators’ defensive line rotation.
McClellan appeared in all 12 games for Florida this season and made one start. He finished with 23 total tackles (seven solo), 1 tackle for loss and 0.5 sacks. He had 23 tackles as a true freshman in 2022 with 2.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.
Prior to enrolling at Florida, he was one of the most highly sought-after members of the 2022 recruiting class, checking in as a four-star prospect and the No. 123 overall player in the country.
McClellan was also ranked as the No. 17 defensive tackle in the class and the No. 3 overall player from the state of Oklahoma, hailing from Owasso (Okla.)
SMU’s now hoping to land McClellan, but competition is stiff with programs like Auburn, Florida State, Missouri and others after him.
McClellan taking advantage of NCAA Transfer Portal
The NCAA Transfer Portal, which covers every NCAA sport at the Division I, II and III levels, is a private database with names of student-athletes who wish to transfer. It is not accessible to the public.
The process of entering the portal is done through a school’s compliance office. Once a player provides written notification of an intent to transfer, the office enters the player’s name in the database and everything is off and running. The compliance office has 48 hours to comply with the player’s request and that request cannot be refused.
Once a player’s name shows up in the portal, other schools can contact the player. Players can change their minds at any point and withdraw from the portal. However, once a player enters the portal, the current scholarship no longer has to be honored. In other words, if a player enters the portal but decides to stay, the school is not obligated to provide a scholarship anymore.
The database is a normal database, sortable by a variety of topics, including (of course) sport and name. A player’s individual entry includes basic details such as contact info, whether the player was on scholarship and whether the player is transferring as a graduate student.
A player can ask that a “do not contact” tag be placed on the report. In those instances, the players don’t want to be contacted by schools unless they’ve initiated the communication.
The portal has been around since Oct. 15, 2018 and the new calendar cycle within the portal begins each August. For example, the 2021-22 cycle started Aug. 1. During the 2020-21 cycle, 2,626 FBS football players entered the transfer portal (including walk-ons). That comes after 1,681 entered during the 2019-20 cycle and 1,709 during the abbreviated 2018-19 cycle. In comparison, 1,833 Division I basketball players entered the portal during the 2020-21 cycle after totals of 1,020 in 2019-20 and 1,063 in 2018-19.
